Recruitment and consultancy freeze – exceptions approved – December 2011

1. During the month of December, the following exceptions to the recruitment and consultancy freeze (above £20k) have been considered by the Chief Executive, in his capacity as Accounting Officer.

2. The details are shown below:

| Approval date | Ref: No. & directorate | Summary of application | Consultancy/ recruit | Decision | |---------------|------------------------|------------------------|----------------------|----------| | 5 December 2011 | 153 RME | Recruitment of Grade D Economist | External recruitment | Approved | | 8 December 2011 | 154 RME | Support to the domestic benchmarking of the costs and performance of train operation £50,000 | Consultancy | Approved | | 8 December 2011 | 155 RME | International benchmarking of the costs and performance of train operation £100,000 | Consultancy | Approved | | 16 December 2011 | 148b RME | Recruitment of Grade E Competition and Consumer Policy | External recruitment | Approved | | 16 December 2011 | 157 RME | Recruitment of HR Operations Manager Grade D | External recruitment | Approved | | 21 December 2011 | 159 RME | Study of IGC’s safety rule £21,000 | Consultancy | Approved | | 23 December 2011 | 160 RME | Impact of higher track access charges on demand for ESI coal and other fuels £50,000 | Consultancy | Approved |

3. The Director of Corporate Services approved 2 applications for consultancy \<£20,000.